Heart-rate monitor attached to treadmill

January 9, 2006 8:15 AM

Yesterday on "CBS Sunday Morning," a correspondent chronicled his attempt to lose weight. I'm trying to identify one of the machines that his personal trainer used to evaluate his progress.

The device was attached to an ordinary treadmill. The subject would exercise for a few minutes, and the device would check his vital signs (presumably his heart rate, but perhaps also other indicia.) When he first came to the trainer, the machine said that his health was "poor." Ten weeks later, although he hadn't lost any weight, he was reevaluated as "excellent." The trainer said that this was because he had exchanged fat for muscle.

What kind of machine is this? Is it a simple heart rate analysis or is something more complex going on?

posted by Saucy Intruder to health (12 comments total)

It sounds like it was doing some sort of rudimentary body fat analysis.
posted by fixedgear at 8:35 AM on January 9, 2006

it's true that muscle weighs more than fat, so i'm sure that's quite annoying for people trying to lose "weight" in general.

Any machine that works like that can't be very accurate at all. I'm sure the only body fat analysis that's worth it is the water submerging test though i could be totally wrong.

If you want to use HR though, check out Polar's like of watches. They work great.
posted by joshgray at 8:41 AM on January 9, 2006

It was probably a test to determine his VO2 max or lactate threshold. Most likely lactate threshold, since his VO2 max would barely change at all after 10 weeks of exercise.
posted by driveler at 8:53 AM on January 9, 2006

My gym has a view of those machines made by Polar that take your heart-rate into account after exerting yourself [it looks at how long it takes for you to recover, among other things].
posted by birdherder at 9:12 AM on January 9, 2006

And wouldn't VO2max testing require strapping a tube to his face? Also, that page says lactate threshold testing requires a blood test.

My money's on it just being a heart rate monitor, checking how hard he had to work to run at some speed for some amount of time. That's a pretty decent way of checking how "in shape" someone is, no?
posted by rxrfrx at 9:12 AM on January 9, 2006

VO2max is very hard to change apparently. Thank your parents for how you are there.

Lactate threshold however is based on conditioning. The physio-geeks out there will have to chime in on the details, but i've had it done with the mask test on a stationary bike. Taking it from the blood is more accurate i hear.

I had mine done as part of a research project at a University. Check around sometimes they do these for free or for cheap as it's good practice for the students and awesome data for the somewhat serious athlete
posted by joshgray at 9:55 AM on January 9, 2006

The trainer said that this was because he had exchanged fat for muscle.

Based on that I'd assume the machine does what those body-fat percentage scales do and use a quick-n-dirty impedence test to determine a number. There's some info here which would seem to imply they are crap (which is what I had always heard).
posted by phearlez at 11:04 AM on January 9, 2006

My experiences indicate that the good impedence-based fat calculators are more useful than calipers. The calipers require a lot of skill to use properly, and when used improperly, they're utterly useless. A Tanita bodyfat-measuring scale will fluctuate by ~3% (if you're lucky) based on hydration, but that's still a lot better than the 15% error you'll get with an incorrect caliper pinch.
posted by rxrfrx at 11:27 AM on January 9, 2006

And by percent I mean calculated percent bodyfat, not percent error.
posted by rxrfrx at 11:27 AM on January 9, 2006

I doubt the machine itself tests anything other than heart rate; we have one of those machines at my gym. The participant is supposed to work at "maximum output" for 5 minutes or so, and the heart rate is measured before and afterwards. The higher the post-exercise heart rate, the worse shape the person is in, more or less.

The key to the question is "The trainer said that this was because he had exchanged fat for muscle." Trainer's interpretation, not the machines.
posted by muddgirl at 12:00 PM on January 9, 2006

Yeah, I should have clarified, the muscle gain comment was made in response to the guy's not losing any weight after 10 weeks of exercise. It was not the conclusion of this particular machine. However, the "poor" to "excellent" trend illustrated that he had gotten healthier even though he hadn't lost weight. Of all the responses, birdherder's link to the Body Age machine seems closest, though I'd appreciate more input.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 12:07 PM on January 9, 2006

My trainer said EXACTLY the same thing to me after I went from an exertion heart rate of 170 (way unhealthy, I know) to 120. Though I lost only three pounds, I was measurably healthier. So, I would agree with those people said that it was a heart rate monitor + trainer's evaluation.
posted by MeetMegan at 6:17 PM on January 9, 2006